About Last Night

Here I am pictured with our very own Al B. And Daryl M. at the Week of Compassion Event at the Country Music Hall of Fame. An amazing night filled with great music from Gabe Dixon (tremendous talent) and my friend Craig Wiseman (the best live performer in the land). Plus U got to see Elvis' Gold Cadillac. It was the kind of night that could only happen in Nashville...and at General Assembly!

The gangs all here

Good news: The Church Van made it all the way to Nashville! When I hadn't heard from our crew by late Saturday night I figured they had either made it safely (best case scenario) or were stranded in a stretch of New Mexico desert without cellphone reception (worst case scenario). Now I have the photographic evidence to prove that they made it! Jeanne and Jessie rode over in the van. They are pictures in the Plenary Hall with me and Lea (who both flew, by the way). Glad everyone is here!

Quote: State of the Church

From our General Minister and President, the Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins in her State of the Church address: "In the midst of this new landscape for missions...with God's leadership we are finding the way. It is an amazing time to be church!"

Sent from my iPhone

Sunday Morning at Vie Street

Guest preacher Dr. William Lee brought a powerful word. Senior Minister Thomas Kleinert welcomed us all to the Lord's Table. The music was amazing. The sanctuary was packed. And glory, glory hallelujah they had veggie sandwiches in the box lunches after worship! It was my first time back at Vine Street since my Ordination there the weekend after I graduated from Seminary, and it was a remarkable day. Special thanks to Rev. Hope Hodnett for making sure I caught the bus to get there and to Al Beasley for taking the picture of me next to Vine Street's sign.

Opening Worship Redux

I grabbed way in the back for Opening Worship (the Pew Ladies at FCC Scottsdale would be proud!) and tried to a picture if the size if the crowd in attendance -- It really us amazing worshipping with several thousand Disciples. Way up there at the front is the Rev. Glen Stewart, the Tennessee Regional Minister. Glen is offering the formal welcome to the Assembly attendees, and many years ago Glen presided at my Ordination to Christian Ministry. Sunday morning I am off to worship at Vine Street Christian Church, where that ordination took place!

Opening Worship at GA

What is that you ask? Well that is FCC Scottsdale's very own Al Beasley playing "Go Tell It On the Mountain" on stage during the opening worship service at General Assembly (I know, I know Mr. Blurrycam strikes again, but trust me Al is there in the upper lefthand corner. It kinda helps if you squint.) I flew over with Don and Kay, and I'm still on the lookout for our group who drove over from Scottsdale in the church van. Expect a picture of them when I see 'em too...hopefully not such a blurry one. We have a great group here representing the church, and it is going to be a terrific Assembly.

Music City Here I Come

Good morning friends! That little, unreadable sign behind me says "Nashville 10:00" and that is my flight out to General Assembly! A direct flight and several timezones later I will be in Music City with several thousand Disciples for our every-other-year big old meeting. Throughout General Assembly I'll be posting short updates here on the blog, so check back often. But a word of warning: I'm doing the whole thing through my phone! So expect some typos, some weird auto-fill changes (my phone originally changed "timezone" to "Toledo Ed"?!?), and some formatting problems. You can also expect all kinds off good news from General Assembly and plenty of great ideas that we can start implementing at FCC Scottsdale!

Whiteboard: Freedom

When the Fourth of July falls so closely after a Sunday, I like to take it as an opportunity to preach about the theology of freedom.

I typically try to avoid using Sunday worship to talk about secular holidays, and building a worship service around the blessings of freedom seems a fair way to approach the subject from a faithful perspective. It is also a handy way to remind people that we'll still have worship on the holiday weekend!

God's gift of freedom is celebrated and shared (and occasionally criticized -- think of God's own protests about "This stiff necked people" in the book of Exodus!) all throughout scripture. The Genesis creation stories show us that from the very beginning God has imbued us with the freedomto choose...and that sometimes that gift of freedom leads us away from God's desired pathway for our lives. When Christ called his very first Disciples, he did the inviting but it was of their own free will that they chose to follow.

One of the strongest admonitions of the divine gift of freedom comes from Galatians 5:1. Thus the central place that passage takes on my whiteboard this week (surrounded by fireworks, naturally!)...

Galatians 5:1 tells us, "For freedom Christ has set you free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery."

Through the power, grace, forgiveness, mercy, and love that we know through Jesus we are set free from all things that would oppress us and pull us away from God's call in our lives. God does not force us into a life of worship and service (such would simply be another form of enslavement) but rather frees us from our bonds and invites us to find meaning and purpose in our lives through God. That is what it means to be truly free...and that is worth celebrating on Sunday morning!

See you in church this Sunday!

Newsbrief: Pastor's In-Reach Fund

I’m proud to use this space to formally announce the creation of the Pastor’s In-Reach Fund.

In the coming days and weeks you’ll be hearing more about the program. I’ll be talking about it from the pulpit this coming Sunday. Next week there will be a full-page description of it on the “We Serve” Page in the Newsletter with lots of details and descriptions.  But I wanted to start getting the word out and, well, that is what the Newsbrief is all about!

We are a church that does Outreach really, really well. Last year we were recognized as the congregation with the Highest Per Capita Giving to Disciples Mission Fund in the Arizona Region. Recently we have sent several thousand dollars to Joplin, MO in response to the devastating tornado that ripped through town.

Because of the financial problems that our country and many of our members are currently experiencing, the Administrative Council has created a new financial aid program specifically targeting the dire financial needs of members of our own Church. So instead of Outreach (where we reach outside of our church family to respond and offer support) this is In-Reach (where we reach in to support members of our family of faith).

The Pastor’s In-Reach Fund will provide gifts up to $500 (with no expectation of repayment) for church members who need financial assistance. The fund will be established with seed money from the Undesignated Mission Fund in the amount of $2500, but if any members wish to contribute directly to the fund you can do so by designating your financial contributions to account #6316.

If you would like more information about the Pastor’s In-Reach Fund, or to find out how to apply for a gift from the Pastor’s In-Reach Fund please contact me directly.

Yours in the journey, Rev. Brian

On the Whiteboard: Feeding the 5000

I'm straying a bit from the Lectionary Cycle this coming Sunday. Normally the Matthew 14:13-21 text would not come up for several more weeks, but other worship plans for the summer have bumped it from that spot. Rather than missing the power and glory of the Story of the Feeding of the 5000 I moved it up to this Sunday.

Come this Sunday to find out why my Cajun Grandmother is firmly convinced that Jesus was himself a Cajun.

Come this Sunday to see what this miraculous text about abundance and invitation has to say to us as a people of faith.

Come this Sunday because we'll conclude the service with a special word of recognition and blessing for our Church Campers before they head off for a week of at Camp Pinerock!

Come this Sunday to worship the God of life and love and blessings right here at First Christian Scottsdale!